If you were looking at the Gothamist Newsmap and noticed a "Water Search" in the Gowanus Canal around 22nd Street, brace yourself: Authorities were searching for a whale. According to WNBC 4, "Authorities were trying to rescue what appeared to be a whale that had wandered into Brooklyn's Gowanus Canal." Chopper 4 has footage, but it's not online yet here it is (it's kind of hilarious, the person in the chopper - perhaps Dan Rice - says he can't follow the whale because "the water's so dark" but you do see something breach the surface three times).

Gowanus Lounge had some photographs of the canal, post-Nor'easter, and we wonder if the weather somehow caused a whale to appear. There's no word on the condition of the whale, but apparently the whale may have been in distress.

Last year, a whale wandered into the Thames. And a harp seal was found in the Gowanus Canal in 2003 (she was later named Gowana).

Update: 1010WINS reports that "there may be two, a big one and a smaller one" - awww! Also, the police are standing by if the whale needs help, but there will be no attempts to redirect the whale to the ocean yet. Newsday says that the DEP is listening at the whale's conditions with underwater listening devices, and the Coast Guard thinks it might be a baby whale separated from its mother.